NEWS

RSU Delays Announcement of
Women's Basketball Coach

Rogers State University officials had anticipated
announcing a women's basketball head coach this summer, but the university now
will delay that announcement for a few months.

The university went through an extensive search
process and received hundreds of inquiries for the coaching position, which will
be charged with starting up the women's basketball program in time for its fall
2007 inaugural season.

"We've identified the candidate we feel will be the
right choice to start up our women's basketball program," said RSU athletic
director Wren Baker. That candidate, however, is currently employed with another
institution and announcing a hiring this close to the start of basketball season
could cause difficulties for the coach, team members and both schools.

"Out of respect to the coach and the institution
where that person is currently coaching, we feel that it would be best to delay
an announcement until a more appropriate time," Baker said.

Baker, who is the university's first athletic
director, began his duties in June. Among his top priorities was the selection
of a women's basketball coach, but the search process took longer than
anticipated due to the university's diligence in sorting through so many
qualified candidates, he said.

"The delay in announcing the women's basketball
coach is not ideal, but there will still be ample time for the candidate we've
selected to put together a quality team for the 2007 season," Baker said. "Our
candidate has a good track record for building winning basketball programs
quickly, and we expect that will be the case here at RSU."

RSU announced in 2005 that it would add
intercollegiate athletics to campus. The university was accepted into the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in fall 2005 and presently
fields teams in baseball, softball and rodeo. Men's and women's basketball are
slated to begin during the 2007-08 season.